A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Ice Bucket Challenge supports ALS research at UMass

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been a viral phenomenon. Quite a few of my co-workers have participated, including the president of my campus and the chancellor of my college. I got to watch both of the latter get doused. In case my readers are wondering where their contributions are going to, the University of Massachusetts Medical School explains in Video: Scientists at UMMS working toward ALS cure By Bryan Goodchild, UMass Medical School Communications, on August 18, 2014.

The viral video “Ice Bucket Challenge” campaign is making ALS a household word across the country and shining a light on the scientists around the world searching for a cure. At UMass Medical School, Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, one of the world’s foremost authorities on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, heads a multi-disciplinary team of scientists researching treatments and a cure for the disease.

“It’s very exciting to do ALS work here because we have a span of expertise all the way from people who are experts at figuring out the genetics of this disease to those who have built gene therapy centers who know how to get inside the iron curtain around the brain so we can put medications inside and treat a disease like ALS, or maybe also Parkinson’s or Huntington’s or other types of these brain degenerative disorders,” said Dr. Brown, the Leo P. and Theresa M. LaChance Chair in Medical Research and chair and professor of neurology. “The tools for finding out what causes ALS have never been better.”

Melissa Moore, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Eleanor Eustis Farrington Chair in Cancer Research, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, and co-director of the RNA and Neurotherapeutics Institutes, said the teamwork at UMMS is key to advancing the science.

“UMass Medical School is an amazing place for ALS research because we have so many people in different disciplines that are contributing to trying to understand the basis of the disease and also to develop cures for the disease,” said Dr. Moore.

To support the groundbreaking research taking place at UMass Medical School through the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund, visit umassals.com.